Man, it’s been a while since I’ve done this series. My feelings on talking about Rebels are so much mixed than they were with Clone Wars. One on hand, the series isn’t doing as much for me compared to the latter highs of the Clone Wars series. Which kind of makes me not feel that driven to continue watching.
On the other hand, the more Disney are producing so much new Star Wars content that FOMO is becoming a real thing. With the announcement that Ezra Bridger has been cast in the Ahsoka series and the accompanying insinuation of that series being a direct sequel to this one, then it seems like I’m shit out of luck and need to continue working through Rebels don’t I.
Season 3, Episode 10: An Inside Man
You know, when Kallus would make his grand face turn away from the Empire, I don’t know, I felt like it might be a tad more dramatic. Kallus coming over to the side of the heroes was never really in doubt after the season 2 episode: The Honorable Ones. Somehow though, I felt like the final straw that would finally force Kallus to turn his back on the Empire might be a little more cinematic.
Instead, what we get in this episode is the reveal that Kallus has been their inside man for a little while now already. Which is a touch disappointing. Although, I wouldn’t put it past this show to be pulling the long con on us here and be playing both sides.
In this episode, Ezra and Kanan are revisiting Ezra’s homeworld of Lothal. Word is the Empire have some secret project in the works in their new factories, and the pair of Jedi are here to investigate. Meeting up with some old faces, we realise that the people of Lothal, forced from their homes and into working in these Imperial factories, have been sabotaging the equipment as it leaves.
Which would be great, if not for the incredibly poor piece of timing matching up with Grand Admiral Thrawn himself showing up to make an example of the workers. Locking down the factory; Ezra, Kanan and Chopper find themselves trapped inside and having to switch from disguise to disguise to get the intel they cam for and get the hell out of there.
Thrawn seem to have them beat at every avenue, that is until they encounter Kallus, who reveals himself turned coat. Like I said before, it’s a little bit of an anticlimactic reveal in my eyes, but leads to them escaping none the less, and with Kallus’s cover still intact.
Or so it would seem. Thrawn’s ever calm demeanour leads him to the conclusion that they have a mole right away. I’m sure he made some kind of mental gymnastics to reach that conclusion, but the pointed way he talks to Kallus about rooting out the traitor and turning them back into an asset makes me wonder whose side Kallus is truly on at this point.
Like I said before, I like a good face turn as much as anybody, but if the show wants to keep pushing Thrawn’s insane competence, then it wouldn’t do for him to have a mole going around right under his nose.
Season 3, Episode 11: Visions and Voices
This is a cool episode. Maul’s continued presence in Rebels is one of the highlights of the show for me. Although he seems like a shadow of his former self these days. At least In terms of his raw power. He’s become more sneaky and calculating. Which I suppose makes sense in this timeline where the Emperor and Vader rule unrivaled.
Maul manipulated Ezra into coming to Dathomir with him and completing the docking ritual from earlier to finally get the answers to the questions they both seek. I’m still at the point where I’m hoping Ezra could continue to walk that line between the light and the dark side and be the Grey Jedi we’ve never really seen outside of printed stories.
Although given the events of this story, him being more light side and thus boring seems like so much more likely. Anyway, the pair do their ritual and Maul finally gets what he wants, the only thing of value he has left in his life; a chance at revenge against Obi Wan Kenobi. At the same time, Ezra sees a vision of what could put an end to the Empire.
Which unbeknownst to both him and Maul is Luke Skywalker. They just both guess they’re aiming towards the same person in Kenobi. Maul betrays Ezra yet again and leaves him to pay the toll of the ritual. Which leads to Ezra having to let Maul escape while he saves Kanan and Sabine from the ghosts of Dathomir.
Weird little extra, Sabine grabs the Darksaber. Oh, did I not mention the Darksaber was present within Maul’s hoard of tokens and trinkets from his former days of glory. Which I’m sure is going to be a big old drama when the other Mandalorians realise she has it. We also potentially might get to see how she ends up losing it and it ending up in Giancarlo Esposito’s hands. But probably not.
Conclusions:
So yeah, this post has existed in draft form on here for the past few months, it was only really the intro and this conclusion that needed to be written in. So have fun reading some half remembered events of a show I haven’t seen in months.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 